Fallsburg strategy pays off with wins

Practices for the Fallsburg girls' basketball team have been a bit different this season.

WILLIAM MONTGOMERY

Practices for the Fallsburg girls' basketball team have been a bit different this season.

Not only has fifth-year head coach Daniel Redmond put an increased emphasis on filming the sessions and using the video as a teaching tool, he's turned practice into an all-out rebounding battle.

"We have scrimmages where have to box out and go for rebounds," said senior forward Kelsey Moody. "If we don't, we run. It's a really, really intense practice."

Redmond's new strategies have certainly paid off.

The Comets are riding a six-game winning streak into Thursday's OCIAA Division V showdown against Tri-Valley. On one hand, the players feel more prepared through video study. On the other hand, the Fallsburg girls have totally dominated the opposition on the glass.

Through seven games, the team had averaged 30 rebounds as a team.

Moody and senior forward Nyasia Blakney, on average, had combined for 27.8 of those rebounds.

"Personally, I think rebounding is one of my best things," said Moody. "I have the length. I have the height. Our team this year, we have a lot of height this year. I feel like every single game we should be getting the rebounds."

For Redmond, the inspiration behind the shift in his coaching methods was to maximize the height on the roster. With 5-foot-11 Blakney and 5-foot-10 Moody, Redmond is trying to get the most out of what his starting forwards do best — leap over the other team's would-be rebounders.

"In my past, we've had up-and-down teams, but this is a more grind-them-out kind of team," Redmond said. "We like to get into the halfcourt and run our offensive sets because I like to get the ball down to my fours and fives. For us to do that, we like to pound the ball into the post and take advantage of our height."

Blakney, who averaged 22.7 points through the team's first seven games, and Moody, at 9.1 points per game, also have been providing the scoring for the Comets.

"We watch film and we see everything we do wrong and we try to correct that," said Moody. "A lot of people individually set goals in their head during practice to do. If you play bad during practice, you're going to play bad during the games. You have to play well in practice to play well in the games. It all starts at practice."